The National Nanotechnology Coordination Office (NNCO) is pleased to announce the winners of the latest round of EnvisioNano, a nanotechnology image contest for students. Ben Davis and Ryan Hines, members of the Maschmann Lab at the University of Missouri, won for their image Graphene Shows its Stripes. They work on innovative methods to machine nanomaterials like graphene in order to capitalize on the transformative properties of these materials. Congratulations to Ben and Ryan!

Images posted online for public voting received more than 2,000 votes. The top three images advanced to the semifinalist round. The final winner was chosen by representatives of the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) member agencies. The winning image will be displayed on Nano.gov for a month. For more information on the EnvisioNano contest rules and judging, visit the EnvisioNano page.

The news release goes on to reveal more about the contest-winning image,

Graphene Shows its Stripes: “This image shows a grain of graphene which was synthesized using chemical vapor deposition on a copper foil substrate. The hexagonal shape of the graphene grain is indicative of the graphene hexagonal crystal lattice structure, while the striped pattern arises due to adhesion and wrinkling with the underlying substrate. Graphene is a 2-D material with mechanical, electrical, and thermal properties that exceed conventional engineering materials.”

I have written previously about EnvisioNano (a June 7, 2016 post which included an invitation to vote; and an April 4, 2016 post about the US NNI’s 2017 budget supplement [scroll down about 50% of the way for the information about the EnvisioNano 2015 contest images on its cover]).

According to an April 1, 2016 news item on Nanowerk, the US National Nanotechnology (NNI) has released its 2017 budget supplement,

The President’s Budget for Fiscal Year 2017 provides $1.4 billion for the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI), affirming the important role that nanotechnology continues to play in the Administration’s innovation agenda. NNI
Cumulatively totaling nearly $24 billion since the inception of the NNI in 2001, the President’s 2017 Budget supports nanoscale science, engineering, and technology R&D at 11 agencies.

Another 9 agencies have nanotechnology-related mission interests or regulatory responsibilities.

An April 1, 2016 NNI news release, which originated the news item, affirms the Obama administration’s commitment to the NNI and notes the supplement serves as an annual report amongst other functions,

Throughout its two terms, the Obama Administration has maintained strong fiscal support for the NNI and has implemented new programs and activities to engage the broader nanotechnology community to support the NNI’s vision that the ability to understand and control matter at the nanoscale will lead to new innovations that will improve our quality of life and benefit society.

This Budget Supplement documents progress of these participating agencies in addressing the goals and objectives of the NNI. It also serves as the Annual Report for the NNI called for under the provisions of the 21st Century Nanotechnology Research and Development Act of 2003 (Public Law 108-153, 15 USC §7501). The report also addresses the requirement for Department of Defense reporting on its nanotechnology investments, per 10 USC §2358.

Over the past year, the NNI participating agencies, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), and the National Nanotechnology Coordination Office (NNCO) have been charting the future directions of the NNI, including putting greater focus on promoting commercialization and increasing education and outreach efforts to the broader nanotechnology community. As part of this effort, and in keeping with recommendations from the 2014 review of the NNI by the President’s Council of Advisors for Science and Technology, the NNI has been working to establish Nanotechnology-Inspired Grand Challenges, ambitious but achievable goals that will harness nanotechnology to solve National or global problems and that have the potential to capture the public’s imagination. Based upon inputs from NNI agencies and the broader community, the first Nanotechnology-Inspired Grand Challenge (for future computing) was announced by OSTP on October 20, 2015, calling for a collaborative effort to “create a new type of computer that can proactively interpret and learn from data, solve unfamiliar problems using what it has learned, and operate with the energy efficiency of the human brain.” This Grand Challenge has generated broad interest within the nanotechnology community—not only NNI agencies, but also industry, technical societies, and private foundations—and planning is underway to address how the agencies and the community will work together to achieve this goal. Topics for additional Nanotechnology-Inspired Grand Challenges are under review.

Interestingly, it also offers an explanation of the images on its cover (Note: Links have been removed),

About the cover

Each year’s National Nanotechnology Initiative Supplement to the President’s Budget features cover images illustrating recent developments in nanotechnology stemming from NNI activities that have the potential to make major contributions to National priorities. The text below explains the significance of each of the featured images on this year’s cover.

Front cover featured images (above): Images illustrating three novel nanomedicine applications. Center: microneedle array for glucose-responsive insulin delivery imaged using fluorescence microscopy. This “smart insulin patch” is based on painless microneedles loaded with hypoxia-sensitive vesicles ~100 nm in diameter that release insulin in response to high glucose levels. Dr. Zhen Gu and colleagues at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University have demonstrated that this patch effectively regulates the blood glucose of type 1 diabetic mice with faster response than current pH-sensitive formulations. The inset image on the lower right shows the structure of the nanovesicles; each microneedle contains more than 100 million of these vesicles. The research was supported by the American Diabetes Association, the State of North Carolina, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the National Science Foundation (NSF). Left: colorized rendering of a candidate universal flu vaccine nanoparticle. The vaccine molecule, developed at the NIH Vaccine Research Center, displays only the conserved part of the viral spike and stimulates the production of antibodies to fight against the ever-changing flu virus. The vaccine is engineered from a ~13 nm ferritin core (blue) combined with a 7 nm influenza antigen (green). Image credit: NIH National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). Right: colorized scanning electron micrograph of Ebola virus particles on an infected VERO E6 cell. Blue represents individual Ebola virus particles. The image was produced by John Bernbaum and Jiro Wada at NIAID. When the Ebola outbreak struck in 2014, the Food and Drug Administration authorized emergency use of lateral flow immunoassays for Ebola detection that use gold nanoparticles for visual interpretation of the tests.

Back cover featured images (above): Images illustrating examples of NNI educational outreach activities. Center: Comic from the NSF/NNI competition Generation Nano: Small Science Superheroes. Illustration by Amina Khan, NSF. Left of Center: Polymer Nanocone Array (biomimetic of antimicrobial insect surface) by Kyle Nowlin, UNC-Greensboro, winner from the first cycle of the NNI’s student image contest, EnvisioNano. Right of Center: Gelatin Nanoparticles in Brain (nasal delivery of stroke medication to the brain) by Elizabeth Sawicki, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, winner from the second cycle of EnvisioNano. Outside right: still photo from the video Chlorination-less (water treatment method using reusable nanodiamond powder) by Abelardo Colon and Jennifer Gill, University of Puerto Rico at Rio Piedras, the winning video from the NNI’s Student Video Contest. Outside left: Society of Emerging NanoTechnologies (SENT) student group at the University of Central Florida, one of the initial nodes in the developing U.S. Nano and Emerging Technologies Student Network; photo by Alexis Vilaboy.

Earlier this year the US National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) through its National Nanotechnology Coordination Office (NNCO) established a student contest for nano images, EnvisioNano, (it’s mentioned in my April 9, 2015 post) and, now, a May 6, 2015 news item on Nanowerk announces the winner,

The National Nanotechnology Coordination Office (NNCO) has announced the winner of the first EnvisioNano nanotechnology image contest for students. Kyle Nowlin from the University of North Carolina Greensboro Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering won the top honors for his image entitled Polymer Nanocone Array.

The image, shown below, explores new ways of controlling the spread of bacteria and fungi through the use of nanostructured surfaces (NSS). Many insects have NSS that kill microbes on the outermost layer of their exoskeletons, protecting them from infection. Kyle’s research concentrates on creating new synthetic NSS materials in the lab that resemble those found in nature. Congratulations to Kyle!

Here’s the image,

Polymer Nanocone Array: The surface is a polymeric nanocone array that is generated by colloidal lithography, i.e. a masking of a polymeric substrate by nanoscale beads followed by a reactive ion etching. The inset shows more detailed structure to the individual nanocones which have 20nm ridges along their length. The image was acquired using a Zeiss Auriga SEM with the InLens detector and a 2keV electron beam. Image by: Kyle Nowlin Advisor: Dr. Dennis LaJeunesse School: University of North Carolina Greensboro, Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering, Department of Nanoscience [downloaded from http://www.nano.gov/node/1397]

Kyle’s description of his research: “Many insects display nanostructured surfaces (NSS) on their cuticles and many of these native NSS are inherently antimicrobial and kill microbes by mechanical/structure means. Our research explores the mechanisms that underlie the rupture of microbes on NSS. The native insect cuticles are complex materials that are difficult to replicate and to control specific surface properties. We have applied a colloidal lithographic process to generate novel synthetic NSS materials that resemble their biological insect cuticle counterparts in scale and shape but by using different polymeric materials to make these NSS can control surface properties of our biomimetic NSS. In this manner we will systematically identify the mechanical and physiochemical properties of rupturing NSS that lead to microbial demise. The goal of this research is to develop novel means of controlling the spread of pathogenic bacteria and fungi through nanostructured materials.”

The NNCO news release also provides more details about this year’s (2015) contest (Note: A link has been removed),

Thirty-two images were submitted by 10 students from universities across the country. Images were posted online for public voting. The top five images advanced to the semifinalist round. The final winner was chosen by representatives of the National Nanotechnology Initiative member agencies.

The US National Nanotechnology Inititiative (NNI) has opened its EnvisioNano photo contest open to the public for voting (April 7 – 17, 2015) according to an April 7, 2015 news item on Nanowerk,

As a judge, keep in mind that this contest isn’t just about cool pictures at the nanoscale. The students were asked to envision where their research is headed and how “seeing” at the nanoscale is important to reaching that vision. So, while you’re judging the images, please take a minute to learn how each image fits into the research goals of the students’ projects and how nanotechnology may improve your life.

The winning submissions will be spotlighted on the NNI website for one month. The winning images, the names and affiliations of the submitters, and the descriptions of their research will be featured on the homepage of Nano.gov. The images and accompanying information will then be placed in an archive on the site. Additionally, the winning images may appear in official documents and publications for the NNI such as the budget supplement or strategic plan. The NNCO [National Nanotechnology Coordination Office] may also arrange for viewing of the winning images at symposia and technical conferences, such as theTechConnect World Innovation Conference & Expo, June 14 – 17, 2015.